


this moment

by veronicabunch



Category: Archie Comics
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Jughead Jones, Demisexual Jughead Jones, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 18:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15370617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veronicabunch/pseuds/veronicabunch
Summary: While they were in the middle of some angry hate sex, Reggie's house gets trashed and Officer Keller & co. clear out the rest of the guests.- prompt -“It’s 2am on the night of my 21st birthday and we gotta fix this fucking mess by morning or else we’re fucked.”





	this moment

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on [tumblr.](https://veronicabunch.tumblr.com/post/175970124792/its-2am-on-the-night-of-my-21st-birthday-and)

 

 

“No,” Reggie whispers, stepping into the archway of the living room. Jughead rushes down the hall, coming to a halting stop beside him. He barely manages to catch himself from barreling directly into Reggie, and ends up putting a hand on his shoulder. Reggie doesn’t seem to notice him though. He keeps whispering, “No, no, no, no. This cannot be happening.”

Jughead looks away from Reggie’s shocked face to the scene before him. His lips part and he finds himself short with a snarky comment. He carefully and dramatically peels his hand off Reggie’s shoulder. “Oh, shit, dude.”

Reggie spins around to look at Jughead, shoving him back. “Are you kidding me? It’s 2am on the night of my fucking twenty-first birthday, and we gotta fix this fucking mess by morning or else we’re fucked!”

“I–” Jughead lifts his hands.

“This is your fault!”

“How? How is this my fault?” Jughead asks, before following Reggie into the living room. It’s a disaster in the worst way possible. Snacks are all over the floor and furniture, spilled beer and a broken tequila bottle drip off the wooden kitchen table, and there are a ridiculous amount of abandoned shoes. Jughead picks up a fallen lamp to place back on the side table, pausing when he realizes that it’s completely covered in abandoned red solo cups. The music is still blaring and Reggie reaches forward to turn it down.

“This place yours?” a new voice joins them in the room. They both turn to see two police officers standing in the archway. Reggie glances at Jughead before he lifts his hand. Officer Keller nods knowingly. “Son, normally, I’d take you down for the night…but it looks like cleaning this up and explaining it to your parents might be punishment enough. You two good here?”

Jughead attempts to straighten his shirt; he’d barely had time to put it back on when he raced down the hall after Reggie.

“I–” Reggie starts, but falters.

“Yes, thank you, Officer Keller. Appreciate you clearing out the party,” Jughead says, stepping forward. He glances at Reggie before adding, “Sorry, we weren’t here to, uh, greet you.”

“No problem. The hosts of the party usually aren’t,” Officer Keller says. He pauses before asking, “Was Kevin here?”

Jughead shrugs. “Honestly, I didn’t see him tonight.”

“Have you been drinking, Jughead? Need a ride to the Andrews’?” Officer Keller asks. “Your mama would have a fit if I brought you home drunk.”

Jughead lets out a small laugh and shakes his head. “I’m okay, thanks. I’m going to stay. Help out Reggie.”

“You are?” Reggie asks, his voice soft.

“Alright. Good luck boys,” Officer Keller says. “We’ll let ourselves out.”

They hear the click behind the officers as they leave, and Jughead turns to Reggie again. His shoulders are tenser than usual, and Jughead wants to rub the knots out of them. Reggie continues to survey the living room. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

“Dude, it’s fine. We’ve got this.”

“We  _do not_  have this!” Reggie shouts, waving his arms around. “While we were off–off– _fucking–_ my house was being ruined and my parents are coming home at ten o’clock!”

Jughead rubs the back of his neck, and shakes his head. “Reggie, shit, man. I’m here, okay? We’ll clean it up. Your parents will never know. Never, alright? We’ll get it done. Just–where’s the housekeeper’s closet? She’ll have all the stuff we need.”

“You’re staying,” Reggie murmurs. “I’m sorry I yelled. I know I was the one who dragged you into the guest house to fuck.”

Jughead snorts. “Yeah, you were. And you weren’t exactly subtle, man. I thought you didn’t want anyone to know about…”

“Us?” Reggie suggests.

“I wasn’t sure there was an  _us._ ” Jughead shrugs. “C’mon. The closet?”

“Yeah, right, okay.”

Jughead follows Reggie down the hallway, and tries to think of why Reggie is acting like this. Sure, he knows that Reggie’s parents are kind of crap. In fact, he watched Reggie’s dad scream at Reggie once after wrestling practice in high school. It had been pretty nasty, and Reggie had ended up coming over to his house just before midnight to demand a booty call. It had been some of the roughest sex they’d had yet.

Reggie opens a closet, which turns out more or less to be a small room. Jughead whistles. “See, we’re going to be just fine. Look at all this stuff we have to work with.”

 

\- x -

 

By the time the mess is cleaned up, there’s no sign of the party. They’ve hidden all the trash bags, cleaned up all the mess, replaced some of the broken items with a better rearrangement to hide the fact that something’s missing. Jughead looks at the clock and smiles.

“Hey, it’s almost nine. We have a whole hour to relax. Or sleep,” Jughead murmurs. He yawns and peels the yellow kitchen gloves off his hands. “I think we did a great job, don’t you?”

Reggie looks around. “I can’t believe it. Jug,  _thank you._  I know I don’t really…treat…we’re not…but…”

“Hey dude, just because we’re hate-fucking doesn’t mean we’re not friends,” Jughead says, with a casual wave in the air. He lifts the gloves. “I’m going to go put these back.”

When Jughead comes back into the living room, he doesn’t see Reggie. He frowns, but before deciding whether to leave without a word, he notices one lost shoe. He rushes over and scoops it up. Perhaps he should leave. He’s already said too much anyway.

“Hey,” Reggie’s voice comes from behind him.

“Hey. Found a stray shoe. But I think it’s the last one.”

Reggie shrugs. “C’mon, Jug. Let’s get sleep.”

“I can stay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’ve earned it. Besides, after fucking around in your bed, I think you deserve to know what a great mattress feels like. If my parents don’t notice anything, we can sleep all afternoon. They won’t bother me.”

“Did you finish cleaning the sink in the kitchen?” Jughead asks.

“Yeah.”

“And the bathroom–”

“Looks more spotless than before,” Reggie says. He holds out his hand. “C’mon, loser. We’re going to sleep.”

Jughead grins. He might be Reggie’s dirty little secret right now, but he’s okay with that. Like he told a bewildered Archie: he’s in this for the long haul. There’s something between them, something that runs deeper than hate-sex.

 

\- x -

 

It started their last day of junior year, right before summer. Jughead had decided to skip the afternoon classes, only to walk around a corner and find Reggie doing the same. Reggie had been in a shit mood that day, spouting every insult to Jughead under the sun. It’d been such a waste of a sunny day, and Jughead had wanted him to  _shut up._  He’s never been one to use his body before, but he likes to think that Reggie found him irresistible. Because suddenly, Reggie was pushing him into the boys’ washroom to shove him up against the wall. To make out.

It was weird. Jughead had never felt attracted to anyone before, not in a primal,  _I need you naked yesterday_  way. But with Reggie, that all changed. He thought, perhaps he wasn’t as asexual as he’d thought. He’d even asked Kevin if it was possible he might be gay, and Kevin had  _laughed_  at him. He told Jughead to google the definition of asexuality, because he’d see his own face there.

Demisexual. It’d stuck out to him the moment he’d read the definition. Jughead hadn’t had feelings for Reggie per se, but he  _had_  known the guy his entire life. He’d seen little Reggie stand up to bigger bullies in his defense, had watched him go through an awkward year of wearing braces to get his mostly perfect teeth to be better, and knew that he’d been terrified on the camping trip in grade eight. They had never been  _close._  More like…frenemies.

It’d worked. Jughead had visited Reggie when he’d learned that his mom left. Reggie had brought  _Pop’s_  takeout when he found out that Jellybean would be going away to boarding school. They’d gotten stoned together when Veronica and Betty demanded that Archie choose between them, and Archie chose Valerie. It’d been a rough day.

But when they weren’t there for each other, they were insulting one another. Reggie was calling Jughead names as he shoved him against a locker when they passed each other in the halls at school, and Jughead was playing pranks on Reggie once a week to keep him on his toes.

They’re the only ones of the gang that stuck around to go to Riverdale College. Reggie was smart enough and rich enough to go  _anywhere._  He could’ve moved across the country and gotten away from all of this, but he hadn’t. Jughead has no idea why. Reggie’s father had been furious, had screamed at graduation that he had been counting down the days until his son was gone from his sight.

Jughead had stayed because Jellybean had come home. She had decided that she wanted to finish out her high school years at Riverdale High. Now, she’s going to Riverdale College too. It was nice, being able to see his sister frequently.

He missed Archie, who had gotten a recording deal with Valerie and moved to L.A. to record their first album. He missed Betty, who had moved to New York with Veronica. She’s studying to become an auto mechanic. She could’ve done that here, but she’d spouted some spiel about how New York would be a good opportunity for her to spread her little town wings. Besides, Veronica’s dad is paying for all the expenses. It’s hard to overlook that. And yes, he admits on some weird level, he misses Veronica too. She had become one of his favourite people to talk to–Veronica loved a good debate and she was into classic books almost as much as he is.

It’s not the same anymore.

Jughead’s staring into his chocolate milkshake and he stirs the metal straw around. He’s surprised when there’s a thump in the seat across from him.

“Hey Midge,” Jughead says, smiling.

“Hi Juggie,” she greets.

“Where’s Moose?”

“Don’t,” Midge says, shaking her head. “Please. We broke up last week, and I’m still trying to get over him.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

“It’s a long story,” Midge says, smiling up at Pop. “Hey Pop. Could I get a vanilla milkshake? And, Juggie, do you wanna share fries?”

“Always,” he says.

“Coming right up, Miss Midge,” Pop says, with a smile.

They’re alone again and Jughead leans back to stare at her. Midge could’ve left too, but she chose not to. She decided that she wanted to stay with Moose, and Moose couldn’t afford to go anywhere else but Riverdale College. Jughead tilts his head. If they broke up–which they’ve done twice since grade nine–that means that Reggie can’t be too far away.

“We want different things,” Midge says, shrugging. “He wants us to settle down right away. Move in together. Get married. Make babies. I want to travel, explore more than Riverdale, and maybe…I don’t know. Have some adventures first. We’re so young.”

“Yeah, jesus,” Jughead murmurs. “Why does Moose want to rush?”

“Since his mother passed, he’s afraid we’ll run out of time if we wait too long,” Midge admits, keeping her voice low. Pop sets a milkshake in front of her and she gives a quiet thanks. Then she looks at Jughead. “Am I terrible for breaking up with him?”

“No,” Jughead answers, honestly. “It’s rare for people to meet their soul mates when they’re fourteen.”

“I think I did though,” Midge admits with a mumble. She takes a big slurp of her milkshake before adding, “I don’t know what to do. Nancy thinks we should take a break, but I mean…look at what happened to her and Chuck. They took a break and it’s been four years. They’re  _still_  not back together.”

“Yeah,” Jughead says, shrugging. “What does Ethel think?”

“Ethel hasn’t really talked to me since she went to school,” Midge admits. “I think she found new friends there. And she has a boyfriend now. It sounds like he’s as crazy about her as she is him.”

“That’s good,” Jughead says, nodding. “I don’t know what to tell you, Midge. Just–”

“What’s going on with you and Reginald?” Midge asks, abruptly changing the subject.

Jughead blinks. “What–what? Nothing. Reggie and I are barely friends. Wh–why would you ask that?”

Midge snorts with a smirk on her face. “Okay, _as if_  everyone didn’t see you two sneak off at his birthday party last weekend.”

Jughead swallows. “Midge, it’s not what you think.”

“Then what is it?” Midge demands. “Because it looked like–”

“He was sad,” Jughead blurts. It’s not a lie. Reggie  _had_  been sad at his birthday party. He’d been sad and he’d used Jughead as a distraction. They’d talked about it afterward. Barely, but enough that Jughead might be able to keep their cover. “He was upset that no one came back for his birthday. Archie, Betty, Veronica…they all bailed on him.”

“Oh,” Midge says, looking down at her milkshake now. “I didn’t realize. I assumed…”

“You assumed that since Reggie came out as pansexual that he would be fucking everyone in sight,” Jughead says, bluntly. Midge laughs and nods, having the decency to look a little embarrassed. “Well, he doesn’t.”

“What about your crush on him?”

“My crush–what–what crush?” Jughead stammers.

“Juggie, he’s the only person I’ve ever known to make you blush. I don’t get it. I love Reggie, I do. He’s a close friend of mine. But you get soft around him. Even when you two argue, it always felt more like foreplay to me.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

The front door swings open and Jughead coughs. Reggie has just walked in and he does a sweep of the room, stopping when he sees Jughead and Midge. It takes a few seconds before Reggie’s sitting in the booth beside Midge.

“What are we talking about?” Reggie asks. He orders a cheeseburger with fries from Pop.

“Midge and Moose broke up,” Jughead says, because he does  _not_  want her to get back on the conversation they were just having.

“Yeah, I know,” Reggie responds. Midge looks surprised. “Moose called me.”

“Moose…called… _you?”_  Midge whispers.

“Yeah,” Reggie answers. “He wanted to know if I had any advice.”

“And?” Jughead asks, curious now.

“And I told him to talk to Midge. Tell her why he was upset. Explain that Midge is his soul mate. True love never dies. Give her some time if she needs it. All that stuff,” Reggie says. He shrugs his shoulder. “And I  _may_  have suggested that he consider things from your perspective before he does anything.”

“Oh wow,” Midge murmurs.

“You’re not all bad, Reginald Mantle the Fourth,” Jughead says, wiggling his eyebrows.

Reggie laughs and rolls his eyes. “Whatever,  _Forsythe_ Pendleton Jones the Third.”

“Are you really the fourth?” Midge asks, looking up at Reggie.

“Nah,” Reggie says, shaking his head. “This idiot thinks I should be though. But he dated my cousin May, so I wouldn’t trust what he says.”

“Uh, that is so untrue. We were in middle school and May asked  _me_  to the dance and I said no,” Jughead says, shaking his head. He turns to Midge. “You remember May? She came as Reggie’s date because his parents forced him to bring her. Their family was visiting. And then she ended up spending the entire evening with Dilton.”

Midge laughs. “Oh yeah. I forgot about her. Dilly still talks about her sometimes.”

“Gross,” Reggie mutters. “May has  _definitely_  moved on. And you did go on a date with Regina.”

“Again, not true. Well, sort of not true. I did not realize it was a date until like, halfway through. Then I had Archie call me with an emergency and I bailed,” Jughead says, laughing now. Reggie looks more amused than anything, and he likes when he’s like this. Relaxed. Teasing. Content.

“Oh, Reggie, I heard that Cheryl came by to your party,” Midge says, nudging him with a wink. “Apparently, she was disappointed that she didn’t cross paths with you.”

“Well,” Reggie says, looking up to hold Jughead’s gaze. “It was a wild party.”

“Yeah, it was,” Jughead mumbles.

 

\- x -

 

The hate-sex had been great. Whenever one of them wanted to scratch an itch, they’d go out of their way to piss the other off. It always ended with their tongues colliding in a hidden area and their clothes coming off. And it had worked.

It’d worked until Jughead realized that Midge might be onto something. It might no longer be hate-sex anymore. Or even angry-sex. It might just be sex. This only occurs to Jughead after Reggie gives him a blowjob in an unfrequented section of the school library. The fact is, neither of them had pissed the other off. They had simply bumped into each other in the hallways and talked until they ended up here.

“Reggie,” Jughead whispers, zipping up his pants. “What are we doing here?”

“Uh…” Reggie says, glancing around. “Please tell me I don’t have to explain what a  _blow job_  is.”

“No. I mean. I just.”

“Excuse me,” a voice comes.

They both jump, and Jughead picks up his backpack. He grabs a book off the shelf. “Found it. Thanks for helping me, Reg.”

“No problem.”

They both dart out of the library, Jughead abandoning his book on a random shelf. They’re laughing as they walk down the hall.

“I can’t believe we almost got caught.”

“Honestly,” Jughead murmurs. “What we were thinking? The  _library?_  There’s not even walls.”

“You were quieter than usual,” Reggie points out. “And really, what does one expect us to do when the opportunity presents itself?”

“Exactly.”

“So, um, it sounds like you wanted to talk about something serious back there,” Reggie mumbles.

“I did. I do,” Jughead says. He pulls Reggie over to the side of the hallway and quietly asks, “Do you, uh, do you ever wonder  _why_  we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing for the past few years?”

“Jug, we’ve been fucking for four years,” Reggie points out. “It’s kind of all I think about. But I don’t think here and now is the place to talk about it. Let’s go to Pop’s for dinner. I’ll meet you there at seven.”

“Like a date?” Jughead asks, eyebrows going up.

“Yeah. Like a date.”

He watches Reggie walk away and he leans against the lockers. Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath. He’s going on a date with Reggie. Jughead nods and pushes himself from the lockers. He walks in the opposite direction that Reggie had, because unlike Reg, he doesn’t have any more classes this afternoon.

 

\- x -

 

Jughead’s nervous. He’d called Midge up to ask her for advice because he was nervous. She’d laughed and told him he’d be fine. He’d texted Archie, who hadn’t gotten back to him yet. And he’d called Veronica.

Veronica probably had the best advice anyone could give him. She’d told him to change into his good pair of jeans–the ones she’d bought him for Christmas last year–and put on a nice shirt. When he’d worried about which shirt, she’d mentioned the nice red one Betty had given him.

_“Is this why you guys buy me clothes?”  
_

_“Maybe.”_

Then she had told him to stop worrying because Jughead is Reggie’s best friend. He’d been surprised and she’d sighed as if it was annoying being the one with all the answers.  _“Reggie may be one of my dearest friends, Jug, but there’s no one he trusts more than you. Believe me. You’ve been a good and kind friend to him since the beginning. That man would do anything to make you happy. As long as you don’t forget that, you’ll be good.”_

When Reggie walks in with a paper bag, Jughead finds himself getting out of the booth. He presses his lips against Reggie’s, a very bold and public move. He wonders if it was a mistake until he pulls away and sees Reggie beaming at him.

“I hope it’s okay that I got you a little present. Kind of like flowers,” Reggie explains, “if you, y’know, liked flowers. It’s just. It’s more your style than flowers.”

Jughead’s confused but he takes the bag. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

Then he peers inside and laughs. “Dude, it’s all candy and snacks!”

“Yeah, well, I want you to know that…I know you, Juggie. I know that you don’t date. But I want to date you. I want to be your boyfriend. And I’m hoping that earlier…you meant you want to be mine too.”

“If I didn’t before, I definitely do now.” He pauses when he sees the hurt of flash flicker across Reggie’s features. He reaches out, grabbing Reggie’s hand. “That was a joke. I haven’t looked twice at anyone since you and I started hooking up.”

Reggie laughs now. “Yeah, but you’re ace. So you don’t really look twice at anyone to begin with. But…but you haven’t been, uh, interested in anyone else? Romantically, either?”

“Nope. Just you.”

“Same,” Reggie murmurs. “I used to be a huge slut before you. Remember?”

“I do.”

“So, we’re really doing this, huh?”

“Yep.”

“What will our friends think?” Reggie wonders.

“Well, Ronnie’s super excited for us. Midge is amused…” Jughead shrugs. “I don’t think it’ll come as a shock to anyone but Archie.”

“And Moose. Moose will be happy. He’s been rooting for us since before I knew I was pan,” Reggie says. “He thought that I made you happy.”

“You do.”

“Well, it’s about time you two went public,” Pop says, joining them at the end of the booth. He sets down a milkshake with two straws. “Don’t worry, Jug. I’ll bring another one over as soon as you’re finished. Just thought you might wanna share, that’s all.”

Jughead squeezes Reggie’s hand. “Okay. But just this one time. After this, I don’t share food or drinks with anyone. Even if they’re my boyfriend.”

It feels really good to say that. Jughead takes a sip of the milkshake, his eyes meeting Reggie’s. Maybe they started off ass backwards, but Jughead’s really glad it brought them to here and this moment.

**Author's Note:**

> cry about reghead with me [here.](http://www.veronicabunch.tumblr.com)


End file.
